First day out

Hello friends. It is Sunday afternoon, which means it has been 5 whole days since my surgery. I will be honest in saying I thought I would be much better off by now than I am. I'm still 100% reliant on crutches (although I'm getting much better at using them). I'm also still super reliant on Andy for pretty much everything.... he's a good sport, but I know he was expecting me to be fine by now, so I'm sure it's trying for him.

But! Breakthrough today! I left the apartment!!! This morning was the Rochester Flower City Half Marathon and I had 7 friends running it. The course goes right by my apartment building, so Andy crawled out of bed to take me outside so I could cheer everyone on. CONGRATULATIONS to Sarah! Katie! Scott! Maddie! Anna! Bipul! Nelson! You are all my hero's for the day. :-)

Once the race was over, I got to leave the house again! Andy and I met Sarah, Jon, and her parents for lunch to celebrate her accomplishment.

Another medal for her collection :-)

Using my crutches to get to the restaurant patio felt like my own personal half marathon. It's amazing how tired I get from using them. After lunch Andy and I decided to go to the grocery store in hopes that they'd have an electric cart that I could drive around. They did!!

By far the highlight of my day

Shopping and Icing

Success!

I've obviously never shopped in an electric cart before. 1) I am a natural electric cart driver, 2) when you back up it beeps - very embarrassing, 3) it's safe to assume no one will look out for you, give you the right of way, understand that you are broken. I have a knew level of sympathy for people who have to use these. The other shoppers make it frustrating, and on top of that, it's hard to reach things on high/low shelves. I'm glad this is only temporary. I couldn't imagine being in a wheelchair for life.

I did meet one very friendly chatty woman near the deli. Turns out she had knee surgery by the same doc that did mine. I asked her how long it took for her to walk again and I guess she made me feel better by saying it took awhile... not that I want it to take awhile, but at least I'm not the only one who wasn't dancing out of the OR.

And now I'm back on the trusty couch with my newly purchased bag of frozen peas working their magic. Whenever I am upright for a short period of time, my left foot/leg starts to turn purple.

See the difference?

And that picture was taken just after a quick bathroom trip. You can only imagine what it's like now after my big outing. But as much as the color change grosses me out, it was really good for me to get out of the house... I felt alive again (even though I was frustrated a lot).

Tomorrow morning is my first physical therapy appointment. I hope they help me learn how to walk again!